Parasite

Every once in a while, the Academy Awards throws the world a curve ball, and sometimes they get it perfectly right. This year, the world was shocked when the Korean film Parasite won best picture. Like a good number of people out there, I knew nearly nothing about this film. And the next day, when I started reading about it, I felt that I knew even less. Having finally watched, I know why. This is one of those films that's nearly impossible to sum up in any meaningful way that conveys how remarkable it is.

Despite some of the images that you'll find, or the eerie trailers you might see, this isn't an Asian horror film, though it certainly borrows visually from that genre. This is a drama, but it's dram with dark humor the reminded me of Reservoir Dogs meets American Beauty. 

This is the story of class inequality dressed up in a brilliant plot that sees a lower class family gifting their way into the employment of an upper class family that lives in the blissful isolated ignorance of wealth. 

I really have nothing negative to say about this film. The acting, the story, the look, and the pacing of it were all fantastic. After it ended, the "shock" of the Best Picture win no longer felt like a shock. It wasn't a curve ball, it was a slam dunk.